--Lloyd is perfectly fine until he hops into that Naboo starfighter.
--The third act of AOTC is where the film crashes and burns, rather than turning around. The Yoda/Dooku battle does nothing for me.
--Vader's infamous "No!" is spicing on the delectable melodrama that is ROTS.

OT

--Threepio and Chewbacca wear out their welcome after ANH.
--Ewoks are the least of ROTJ's problems; my real qualms concern the character arcs of Luke, Leia and Vader.

I like the Ewoks and the role they have in the story. It's all about the underdog rising to the challenge and toppling the technologically advanced (and VERY arrogant) evil Empire.

I don't like Boba Fett as a character. I simply don't understand all the hype surrounding the character, especially for someone who goes out like the punk that he is.

Ian McDiarmid is overrated. I'm sorry, but I just don't see the 'greatness' that everyone talks about. He's good, yes, but surely not enough to bow down and worship at his feet for his acting prowess.

Star Wars is my least favorite installment of the OT.

I have a soft spot for the original Special Editions from '97 and prefer this version of the films over the O-OT. I guess it has more to do with nostalgia since the Specials Editions were just being released into theaters when I became a fan ( I would love an official hi-def release of this version, especially since it's only available on VHS and I no longer own a VCR to watch them).

Ian McDiarmid is overrated. I'm sorry, but I just don't see the 'greatness' that everyone talks about. He's good, yes, but surely not enough to bow down and worship at his feet for his acting prowess.

I knew that one would ruffle a few feathers.

To be fair, I'm basing my opinion solely on his performance throughout the Star Wars films (his obnoxious performance during his battle with Mace and the subsequent scene of him 'knighting' Vader in ROTS really puts me off). I've never seen him in anything outside of the Saga, but I heard his theater work is quite good.

Oh, I totally agree about him being a wonderful villain! I may even venture to stay that he tops the list for me as well. I just can't get past the whole ROTS thing and the way he almost makes a mockery of the character once he's outed as the Sith Lord. He's all serious and very into the role during the first half and then he turns into this caricature during the second act.

Oh, I totally agree about him being a wonderful villain! I may even venture to stay that he tops the list for me as well. I just can't get past the whole ROTS thing and the way he almost makes a mockery of the character once he's outed as the Sith Lord. He's all serious and very into the role during the first half and then he turns into this caricature during the second act.

That's my $.02, anyway.

Agreed! He's absolutely PERFECT in ROTJ, and pretty solid (and much more subtle, obiviously) in the first two prequels and even the first half of ROTS (the smile he gives Anakin after he says he can save Padme from certain death still gets to me in a good way). But from the Mace duel and on, he's obnoxious.

The "Smeagol voice" he does when he tells Mace "no, no, YOU will die!" Still gets on my nerves.

I like how unhinged it gets, myself. He becomes the perfect Saturday morning cartoon villain, the perfect serial bad guy. The only difference between him here and in ROTJ is a little extra padding, and we can begrudge him that. However, one thing this illustrates is the sheer pleasure of his more subtle and nuanced performance in the PT up to that transformation. In TPM, AOTC and half of ROTS, he's delivering an acting job of Shakesperean complexity. Then he turns into Grandpa Cobra Commander, but that's fine with me.

Also, the deletion of the entire rebel alliance subplot in ROTS is the best editing decision of the entire PT.

This. What a waste of footage.

I wouldn't mind seeing it reinstated as part of an extended edition, if such a thing were ever done. The lighting in the scene between the rebel senators and Palpatine, in particular, is really stunning.

STAR WARS: '... a film with comic book characters, an unbelievable story,
no political or social commentary, lousy acting, preposterous dialogue
and a ridiculous simplistic morality. In other words: a BAD MOVIE.' - The New Yorker '77

Source? I can't imagine that's real - it looks too much like a stereotypical pretentious critic to believe.

I agree with your sentiment, however...

It's not only real, but George Lucas had it printed on a t-shirt and wore it during the filming of Episode I.

NOTE: The attribution above is wrong. It does not derive from a 1977 "New Yorker" article, but one written in 1997:

Ian McDiarmid is overrated. I'm sorry, but I just don't see the 'greatness' that everyone talks about. He's good, yes, but surely not enough to bow down and worship at his feet for his acting prowess.

I knew that one would ruffle a few feathers.

To be fair, I'm basing my opinion solely on his performance throughout the Star Wars films (his obnoxious performance during his battle with Mace and the subsequent scene of him 'knighting' Vader in ROTS really puts me off). I've never seen him in anything outside of the Saga, but I heard his theater work is quite good.

His theatre work is excellent. I was sat about three feet from him in a play I saw him in in 2008. I even got the pleasure of hearing him shout, "---- .... ------- ----!" (first word beginning c, second wording beginning f, third c again).

Oh, I totally agree about him being a wonderful villain! I may even venture to stay that he tops the list for me as well. I just can't get past the whole ROTS thing and the way he almost makes a mockery of the character once he's outed as the Sith Lord. He's all serious and very into the role during the first half and then he turns into this caricature during the second act.

That's my $.02, anyway.

Agreed! He's absolutely PERFECT in ROTJ, and pretty solid (and much more subtle, obiviously) in the first two prequels and even the first half of ROTS (the smile he gives Anakin after he says he can save Padme from certain death still gets to me in a good way).

George Lucas agrees with you: "That smile at the end worked" (p.87, "The Making Of Star Wars Revenge Of The Sith", J.W. Rinzler, ISBN: 0091897378)

But from the Mace duel and on, he's obnoxious.

The "Smeagol voice" he does when he tells Mace "no, no, YOU will die!" Still gets on my nerves.

I love the kabuki-esque intemperance of the Mace-Sidious duel (though, reading between the lines in the aforementioned "Making Of", it does seem like they struggled to film an adequate sword fight and probably tried to fudge it in editing).

I like how unhinged it gets, myself. He becomes the perfect Saturday morning cartoon villain, the perfect serial bad guy. The only difference between him here and in ROTJ is a little extra padding, and we can begrudge him that. However, one thing this illustrates is the sheer pleasure of his more subtle and nuanced performance in the PT up to that transformation.

That's a good point.

He's a bit more of a fat fool in ROTS than his lean counterpart in ROTJ, but this gives his transformation in ROTS more of an arch, operatic quality.

Additionally, his bloated appearance suggests Anakin's real fear: Padme's "death" in "childbirth" is nothing more than Anakin stewing over the loss of his beloved's slim, meek figure, trading virginal sleekness for a Rubenesque "Madonna" quality, and the change in focus within Padme -- from maternal affection for him to their child -- that that implies. This is rather dark and twisted of Lucas, but it's consistent with a deeper Oedipal narrative he introduced with the prequel trilogy storyline (reaching a level of heightened self-awareness in AOTC: e.g., "Jocasta" and "Tyranus"; to say nothing of the entire pursuit of Padme by Anakin and the dream of his mother he has right after she spurns him).

So, again... something that might "jar" at first, or seem a little odd, actually has an imperial function within the grander narrative itself. How appropriate for his "Imperial Majesty". This visual essaying reaches a point of sublimity when Sidious quietly kneels at the ruined corpse of Anakin (alive, but barely). The image is eerily evocative of Mary cradling the ruined body of Jesus, her son: imagery that Lucas already introduced in the previous film, offering an inversion of Michelangelo's "Pietà", with Anakin, the son, taking the mother down from the wooden torture instrument; and now, in ROTS, climaxed here, with Anakin's own maternal/paternal carer finally crouching, with a thick garment mainatining his modesty, and gently placing a hand on his mutilated apprentice's forehead (itself a rhyme with Obi-Wan tending to this character's son in the next film in the series).

A startling implication from this is that Palpatine is both father *and* MOTHER to Anakin. His soft-spoken, honey-tipped ways, pre-transformation, keenly suggest a mothering side toward Anakin; and we continue to see that care-giving role being acted out after the transformation, however perversely. This, then, is how Palpatine ensnared as great a fly as Anakin: by correctly identifying a void and realizing it needed to be filled with BOTH roles ("I think he's a she. And I think she's a changeling" -- "In that case, be extra careful..."). PURPLE. Red and blue. "Blue, it's the boy. Red, his mother..." How ironic that the person at the very top of the Empire, the one that contrives it into being, should roam between the genders, when the Empire he creates is nothing but a rejection of the feminine: avowedly male, birthed by all-male clones, deeply distrusting of women (see Aayla Secura's graphic death), run by men, presided over by wrecked spectres of ambivalent youth (youth: a time of great change and experimentation), and given that final push all because a recalcitrant Jedi pupil was driven to apoplectic dread at losing the Sacred Feminine in his world (by devaluing and not understanding its many facets to begin with).*

My unpopular opinion is that the Obi-Wan-Anakin duel was underwhelming. There was such a build up over the years of what it must have been like that when I finally saw it I was disappointed. I think the choreography could have been much better. The part where they are swinging on the ropes makes me cringe. The ending where Obi-Wan chops him up, just makes Anakin look stupid.

My unpopular opinion is that the Obi-Wan-Anakin duel was underwhelming. There was such a build up over the years of what it must have been like that when I finally saw it I was disappointed. I think the choreography could have been much better. The part where they are swinging on the ropes makes me cringe. The ending where Obi-Wan chops him up, just makes Anakin look stupid.

Part of this, I think, is due to the fact that you had such overwhelming duels throughout the rest of the Prequel's. TPM's "Duel of the Fates" gets my vote not only as the best duel of the saga, but probably the best cinematic swordfight of all time, period. In ROTS alone, there's great fencing throughout the film, not the least of which being the fight between Yoda and Palpatine that the Mustafar battle is intercut with. Between that and the cool action set-pieces throughout the Prequels, there's a lot to diminish that one fight.

I personally wish that some of the ideas that Lucas used in the droid factory sequence in AOTC had been saved for the Mustafar battle (how cool would it have been for Anakin and Obi-Wan to have been trapped on the conveyor belts in their fight?). But It all works out. And we get some very epic, expressionistic stuff throughout the fight-- I particularly love the shots of the two of them doing force-pushes at each other, their hands looking like they should be clasping. Also, that gliding shot of Obi-Wan looking at Anakin as they ride the lava river has a very anime "friends turned enemies" feel to it.

By the time it gets to that "high ground" boast, it's like, WTH is Obi-Wan talking about?

This is one meaning to blue dots and blue sticks waving in the dark. These guys might as well be nothing but blue slashes in the dark. They have nothing of any real value or substance to say to one another. The visual field reduces them to a single primary colour, lost in the consuming wilderness of a remote planet perpetually in the throes of its own death/rebirth -- the universe cycling on independent of their empty communication.

"Through space the universe encompasses and swallows me up like an atom; through thought I comprehend the world" -- Blaise Pascal